Security Systems

Statistics - Each year, more than a million vehicles are stolen in the United States with a car stolen every 23 seconds, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The odds of your car being taken were 1 in 171 in 1998, says the III. Car thieves, like home burglars, generally have an easy time, made simple by car owners who obligingly leave doors unlocked (in 4 out of 5 cases of auto theft... Ads

Federal Legislation1919 - The Dyer Act, popularly known as the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, made interstate transportation of stolen vehicles a federal crime. This law imposed harsh sentences -- fines and up to 10 years imprisonment -- on those who transported stolen vehicles across state lines. Passed in 1919, the Dyer Act was an attempt to supplement states' efforts to combat...

Your risk of having your car stolen depends on three things: where you live (urban areas more than rural; port and border cities more than other cities); what car you drive (certain makes and models are more popular with car thieves); and what steps you've taken to reduce your risk. We'll examine each factor. At the end we review the statistics on stolen cars, the direct and indirect...

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) defines carjacking as the attempted or completed robbery of a motor vehicle by a stranger that includes the use or threat of use of force. According to a DOJ report released in March 1999, between 1992 and 1996 there were an average of 49,000 carjackings each year, up from earlier estimates of about 35,000 each year during the period 1987 to 1992. Earlier...

Automatic system arming (aka: passive setting):Costs: Free - Included with most better systems, and most built-in alarms.Benefits: The best alarms arm themselves automatically when you leave the vehicle and include an automatic kill switch (see below).Drawbacks: None, unless you lock both your keys and your transmitter in your vehicle. Insurance discount only available in Florida, Illinois,...

Losses decline by 50% when cars are equipped with immobilizing antitheft devicesNow that a number of auto manufacturers are installing passive immobilizing antitheft devices in passenger vehicles, thefts of these vehicles are being reduced (an immobilizing device keeps a vehicle from being driven). This is reflected in overall insurance losses for vehicle theft, which have been reduced an...

Absent-minded drivers beware: Losing your keys could cost you as much as $3,000. A transponder-based anti-theft system in newer vehicles is backfiring on owners and auto dealers who discover that getting copies or replacement keys isn't easy or cheap. The system uses keys with computer chips, embedded in the plastic head casing, that emit a signal to the car's computer system when placed...